Angus Grant

Angus Grant (14 February 1967 – 9 October 2016) was a Scottish fiddler who was the frontman of Shooglenifty, a folk rock group, since the groups creation in 1990.

Early life and career

Grant (left) with Shooglenifty at the Celtic Connections festival 2007.

Angus Roderick Grant was born on the 14th February 1967 in Fort William, Highland. His father, Aonghas, was also a fiddler.

During his teenage years, he played with his father at Highland dances and celidhs and later formed his own trio, Pennycroft, which played around the pubs of Lochaber.

Upon leaving Lochaber High School, he attended an art school in Edinburgh, where, with the drummer and percussionist James Mackintosh, the guitarist Malcolm Crosbie, the Orcadian banjo player Garry Finlayson and the bassist Conrad Molleson he formed a “punk-bluegrass” band called Swamptrash in 1987.

Swamptrash broke up in 1990 and many of its members founded Shooglenifty.

Shooglenifty

Shooglenifty began developing their distinctive “acid croft” sound in Edinburgh pubs in 1990. They became so successful in their genre that by 1995, Shooglenifty were playing at the Hogmanay celebrations in Princes Street Gardens in front of a crowd of 250,000 - arguably their biggest ever concert.

Grant became the face of the band and was the most recognizable member.

Personal life

Grant never married. He was a private man who eschewed the mobile phone and spent as much time as he could on the west coast of Scotland.

Death

On the 9th October 2016, on the band's website, it was revealed that Grant had died after battling with a short bout of cancer.^[1]

References